1 President's Advisory Committee on Student
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 President’s Advisory Committee on Student Mental Health (PAC-SMH) Community Partners Panel FINAL REPORT Panel Co-Chairs: Tom Ruttan, PhD., C.Psych. Counselling Services (Co-Chair) Bonnie Taylor MSW, RSW AccessAbility Services (Co-Chair) University of Waterloo PAC-SMH: Community Partners Panel Members: Tom Ruttan (Co-Chair of Community Panel; Director, Counselling Services, uWaterloo) Bonnie Taylor (Co-Chair; AccessAbility Services, uWaterloo) Alison Burnet (Director, Student Wellness, University of Guelph); Sarah Chen (uWaterloo) Hsiao d’Ailly (Faculty, Renison University College) Lynn Ferguson (Grand River Hospital) Siddong Fu (Undergraduate Student, Psychology) Alison Kernoghan (School of Public Health & Health Systems, uWaterloo) Kimberly Kuntz (Institute of Quantum Computing, uWaterloo) Laura Libralto (Community Partner/Educator & Parent) Erm Lombardi (Parent) Tana Nash (Executive Director, Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council) Karen Ostrander (Director, Student Wellness Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University) Prabhjot Sangha (Undergraduate Student, AHS, Public Health) Rachel Thorburn (Undergraduate Student, Arts and Business, uWaterloo) Wanda Wagler-Martin (Executive Director, Shalom Counselling Services) Breana Walker (School of Accounting & Finance; Bereaved Families of Ontario) Executive Summary Panel members from a wide range of both on- and off-campus resources (e.g., uWaterloo, Renison University College, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Guelph, parents, community agencies) met on numerous occasions throughout the Fall 2017 academic term to discuss mental health resources available to students. These meetings resulted in clear and frank discussions of resources available, current working relationships between the University and off-campus mental health resources, gaps in services, strategies for enhancing the working relationships as well as resources, and recommendations the Panel believed were important for the benefit of student mental health. Discussions were augmented by presentations to/from community resources not directly represented on the Panel including crisis supports and community wrap around services. The recommendations that flowed from the Panel’s meetings were separated into three main categories: Enhance Collaborative Partnerships Develop and Implement Formalized Protocols Improved Communication, Education & Training 2 The Panel also looked specifically at the available on- and off-campus resources as existing within a concept of “one community” and not within what was perceived by the Panel as a false dichotomy of on- and off-campus resources. It was believed that students access mental health resources both on and off campus and thus, the Panel viewed all resources as occurring within one larger community. In addition, while the Panel remained entirely aware of the primary focus of the mandate being student mental health, the importance of addressing the mental health needs of the entire uWaterloo community (i.e., students, staff & faculty) was also strongly encouraged. Student mental health can only be aided and improved if the mental health of faculty and staff are a primary foci for uWaterloo as well. It was also noted that there was a strong desire by the Panel for the working relationships amongst members to continue past the mandated end of the Panel, as the Panel has already began to open new doors into partnerships and mutual supports within the community agencies. Steps will be taken by the Panel to further enhance the collaboration among all members into the future. Overview of Panel Mandate The Panel’s mandate was to examine the relationship between the University and off-campus community agencies with regard to student mental health services. This relationship was examined through the Panel’s development of an expanded lens that valued both the mental health wellness of all uWaterloo members (i.e., students, staff & faculty) as well as the importance of viewing “community” not as an artificial dichotomy between on- campus and off- campus, but as one community which included mental health resources regardless of where they were accessed. Thus, the Panel chose to use the term, “community” to refer to mental health resources available for all members of uWaterloo regardless of where the resources may exist. Members of the Panel were comprised of enthusiastic uWaterloo students, staff & faculty, off-campus agencies and organizations passionate about mental health. Additionally, the discussions benefitted significantly from the participation of members who were parents of university students. As a result, the input from all members of the Panel contributed very well to the examination of available mental health resources while providing a discerning perspective toward the development of important and respectful recommendations. At the beginning of the Panel’s meetings, the relationship between uWaterloo and off-campus mental health resources varied from close (e.g., Grand River Hospital) to awareness (e.g., Canadian Mental Health Association) to non-existent (e.g., KW4 Connectivity). It was clear to the Panel early on that the knowledge of mental health resources as well as the working relationships between all organizations providing such resources needed to be stronger and clearer. This led to an early determined recommendation that the work examining the relationships amongst all mental health organizations needed to continue past the end of the mandate of the President’s Advisory Committee’s report. Recognizing that the full community (including uWaterloo) had many resources available currently with both mental health as well as the social determinants of health, a great amount of time was spent by the Panel discussing the promotion and knowledge translation of these existing services. For example, how best could the Panel ensure these mental health services 3 and resources were known by staff, faculty and students? Additionally, the Panel also recognized the importance of consistency in messaging that mirrored existing messaging already used in the community such as the promotion of the HERE 24/7 line. The Panel recognized the importance of language in the promotion of mental health, mental illness and suicide prevention services and resources. It was important to the members that altering the way mental health, mental illness and suicide were discussed created a safe space to have conversations that were helpful. Research has demonstrated that using strength-based positive messaging focusing on helpful behaviours was more beneficial to shifting change. The Panel noted the Federal government is currently creating a best practice language document for all federal departments. It was considered that uWaterloo could examine the Federal government’s initiatives in this area and potentially consider using some of the language from this document to benefit mental health resources on campus. Additionally, the Panel recognized that uWaterloo is a very multi-cultural and diverse institution. In many cultures, there are no words to describe mental health, mental illness and suicide. Describing behaviours such as what stress looks like, healthy coping skills and self-care could be more beneficial for some individuals. Working in consultation with cultural groups in the development of effective promotion of messaging and resources was recommended. Methodology The Panel met every three weeks with some additional meetings throughout the Fall 2017 academic term. Meetings were held at the University of Waterloo with the option for members to participate via Skype. As the membership of the Panel consisted of a wide range of parents, on-campus personnel as well as off-campus agencies, the fact finding and information gathering for the Panel was conducted through detailed and thorough discussions amongst the members. This expertise provided by the Panel represented both substantial breadth and depth of mental health resources available to students and thus, yielded significant knowledge existent resources as well as gaps in services. A website content analysis was conducted on a number of relevant external web sites for the purpose of examining additional information and expertise to assist the Panel. Please see Appendix A for sites and resources examined. In addition, representatives from the Panel attended a meeting of Connectivity KW4. This community meeting has members from more than 30 social service agencies, education and police who meet on a regular basis to discuss and problem solve the mental health needs of the KW region. The Panel’s representatives forged solid working relationships with the Connectivity group to better serve uWaterloo students and this relationship will continue past the end of the President’s Advisory Committee’s mandate. As well, a member of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s (CMHA) Here 24/7 presented to the Panel to describe the resources available. This presentation led to increased working relationships between Here 24/7 and the Panel members. This relationship will also extend past the Committee’s mandate. 4 Recommendations The Panel members examined a large number of relevant topic areas and arrived at several recommendations. For ease of consideration, recommendations are presented below in subcategories of primary foci. These recommendations provide the Panel’s clear direction on actions, resources, and streamlined processes. Enhance Collaborative Partnerships: Develop stronger relationships with community partners (i.e., within the